3.Second, ... a competent religious guide must be clear and intelligible to all,
so that everyone may fully understand the true meaning of the instructions
it contains. Is the Bible a book intelligible to all? Far from it; it is full of
obscurities and difficulties not only for the illiterate, but even for the
learned. [The Faith of Our Fathers, James Cardinal Gibbons, 1917, page
70]

4.More than this, parts of the Bible are evidently unsuited to the very young
or to the ignorant, and hence Clement XI condemned the proposition that
the reading of the Scriptures is for all. These principles are fixed and
invariable but the discipline of the Church with regard to the reading of the
Bible in the vulgar tongue has varied with varying circumstances. In early
times the Bible was read freely by the lay people ... New dangers came in
during the Middle Ages ... To meet these evils, the Council of Toulouse
(1229 ) and Terragona (1234) forbade the laity to read the vernacular
translations of the Bible. Pius IV required bishops to refuse lay persons
leave to read even Catholic versions of Scriptures unless their confessors or
parish priests judged that such reading was likely to prove beneficial.
[Catholic Dictionary, Addis and Arnold, 1887, page 82]

C.Orthodox

1."The idea that the Scriptures are self-interpreting is patently absurd. It
assumes a degree of absolute objectivity that would make the most ardent
positivist cringe with embarrassment. ... this is exactly what the doctrine of
sola Scriptura assumes: a bare text that somehow imposes its meaning on
the reader." [THE WAY: What Every Protestant Should Know About the
Orthodox Church, Clark Carlton, 1997, p 100]

2.Witnesses are encouraged to attain to “oneness”and thus not to “harbor
private ideas when it comes to Bible understanding,” or be suspicious of
their teachings, but rather to have confidence in what they print. [The
Watchtower, Aug 1, 2001 p. 13; Qualified, 1955, p. 156]

E.Presbyterian

1."Nevertheless, we acknowledge the inward illumination of the Spirit of
God to be necessary for the saving understanding of such things as are
revealed in the Word" [Westminster Confession of faith, 6:6]

F.Baptist

1."They who strive to build up firm faith in Scripture through disputation are
doing things backwards.... [because] even if anyone clears God's Sacred
Word from man's evil speaking, he will not at once imprint upon their
hearts that certainty which piety requires. Since for unbelieving men
religion seems to stand by opinion alone, they, in order not to believe
anything foolishly or lightly, both wish and demand rational proof that
Moses and the prophets spoke divinely. But I reply: the testimony of the
Spirit is more excellent than all reason. For as God alone is a fit witness of
himself in his Word, so also the Word will not find acceptance in men's
hearts before it is sealed by the inward testimony of the Spirit. The same
Spirit, therefore, who has spoken through the mouths of the prophets must
penetrate into our hearts to persuade us that they faithfully proclaimed
what had been divinely commanded." [John Calvin, Institutes of the
Christian Religion, I. vii. 4]

G.Christian Scientist

1.Doesn't the Bible alone show us the way to eternal life? Yes, it does. But
humanity had the Bible for close to two millenniums without fully
understanding how to use its truths in a scientifically provable way to heal
and regenerate people like Christ Jesus did. To arrive at that kind of
understanding, humanity needed to comprehend the Bible on a deeper
level. They needed to "unlock" the Bible, so to speak. It was the specific
mission of Science and Health to give the world this "key" to the
Scriptures-to open up their treasures and enable everyone to use them.
[Mary Metzner Trammell, "A Pastor for the World," The Christian Science
Journal, May 1994]

IV.What a contrast

A.Timothy understood from childhood - II Timothy 3:14-17

B.The Bereans are praised for searching the Scriptures for proof - Acts 17:11

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